SOME AFRICAN REFUGEES NOT HAPPY AT ALL WITH SOME AMERICAN LIFESTYLES

A Congolese refugees holding his neighbor's children. Refugees always debate how to educate their children away from some American lifestyle

 

By Alphonse Muhare

Cedar Rapids, Iowa.-After the drowning of one of their children, African refugees are mad at the American society and system and their children.

A group of African refugees is angrily charging that “American laws” lead to the drowning death of a refugee child.

“In Africa, a child does not just leave his home and wander with his friends without the permission of his parents,” said Lucie Maua, one of the refugees. “In this country, we seem to lose any control over our children.”

Most of these refugee blamed American laws for preventing them from educating their children the African way. Monica Lwahoshi, a mother of five, said, “Some refugees have gone to prison for slapping their children. This is what makes these kids to become stubborn and unruly.”

Manasse's children were born in USA. Manasse says he is struggling to teach them African culture.

Dieudonne Kwizera, 15, a Burundian refugee died after an accidental drowning in Iowa City. His funeral took place in Cedar Rapids last Saturday. Angry parents said Kwizera was not supposed to be in Iowa City at the time of his drowning.

Kwizera’s parents said they never gave him the permission to go swimming. Ntanyungu, his father cautioned his other seven children to be careful and to not repeat the mistake of their brother.

 Minega Aime, chairman of Generation Sans Frontiere, Inc., a non-profit organization that assists African refugees in Iowa with education and employment search, said that many children of African refugees are “busy learning English and different American lifestyles to the point we lose any sense of who we are and where we come from.”

According to Aime, the integration of African refugees “is meaningless since most Iowans don’t care to know who we are and where we come from. Talking about integration, it is a one way road here in America. We give everything we are and we have. What do we get in return?”  

David (in red) and Joshua behind him. Refugees' children playing inside their home. Most refugees are not accustomed to the Iowan day care system; so in order to babysit their own children, they depend on their community to watch over their kids when they go to work or they are away.

Aime said most refugees feel they have to learn American customs and traditions while Americans don’t bother to know the African culture. As a result, African parents see their children confused about what culture to adopt after they have learned the American education in schools.